Freedom
by freedom.fighter17
Summary: Destruction comes in many forms, and everyone was hit hard when the Fire Nation attacked. Some more so than others. So what's to happen when three kids meet up in the middle of the woods, covered in blood and scars with an anger that could rival the Gods? Why, they start a vigilante group to get reveng- I mean, to take care of displaced children like themselves, of course!
1. Prologue

The sun was rising over the town of Tah-Jin as it did every morning. A light wind drifted through the streets and rose to meet the hills surrounding and protecting the village. The children were stirring in their beds to get ready for their morning classes; all of the children but one. A girl stood atop one of the sloping hills adorned in the clothes she has slept in the previous night. Her small frame still shook from the nightmares that had brought her to this place. She had hoped that coming up here would calm her mind of the terror that had plagued it every night for the past moon's cycle. The ones where he came, along with the army he had brought that day nine years previous. The girl knew that her fears were unwarranted. After all, the only difference between the past few weeks and the past eight years of her life was that now she knew.

She knew why her mother had moved to this earth kingdom colony only eight months prior to her birth, this earth kingdom colony so far from the Southern Water tribe she should have been raised in. She knew why she'd never met her father, even though her mother said he still lived. She knew now why when a suitor would approach her mother, she would shy away from the affection they offered her. Why on the rare occasions her mother would enter relationships, they would never be allowed to meet her only daughter. The girl frowned at the thought. She knew her mother only wanted to protect her from the people's wrath, though the part of her that was wise beyond her years realized now that her mother was ashamed of her. Even if she'd never admit it.

A gust of wind blew by and the girl felt her hairs stand on end. The wind carried a scent with it, one that was only familiar from her dreams. It couldn't be... Her breath caught in her throat and she began running down the hill towards her house. Someone must be burning wood in their yard, or have forgotten to open their chimney hatch after the rain the previous night. She would get to her house and her mother would be there, preparing her breakfast and laying out her school clothes. There would be no fire but the one burning in the hearth to keep the wind's chill out of their home. However her worst fears were confirmed as she turned the corner to where her house sat at the end of a secluded street.

Thick flames lapped at the window frames from the inside and the smell of misfortune hung heavy in the smoke-filled air. "No..." she whispered as she stopped at stared at the billowing flames. This had to be another nightmare, maybe she fell asleep on the hill… That had to be what happened. She bit down on her tongue and her stomach dropped when she didn't wake up. This was as real as it got.

She knew she couldn't go in, she would never make it out alive. She had to hope that her mother had known she was gone and had saved herself. No other homes were in flames that she could see, but she knew this was no accident. Nobody was in her line of sight, however there was only one group of people who could have done this. A scream sounded from the distance, one that the girl knew she had heard before… The girl felt her body stiffen as it placed in her mind. Sho!

She ran faster than she ever had as she headed through the desolate streets towards her best friend's house. She had heard that pain in his voice many a time before from accidents during their adventures in the woods, or when he'd try to use his father's bow and hurt himself. She ran the route to his house like clockwork as she had walked here everyday before school so they could go together. His house lay outside of the town's limit as his father owned the farm. Coming up on the house, she didn't see them. Never slowing her pace she ran around back to where the barn resided and, subsequently, found them. Sho's parents lay in a heap on the ground, though she couldn't be sure if they were breathing or not from here. The barn was being smothered in whispy blue flames that seemed to spread faster than any fire she'd ever seen before. She could feel the heat from here.

A burly man in red stood in front of another heap on the ground, the tell tale sign of life being his shivering and sobbing. She couldn't help what she did next, though she had no idea why she did. "Hey you! Why don't you stop tormenting my best friend and go fight someone your own size, ya jerk!" The man turned his attention to the angry eight year old standing there in just her under wrappings and a fixed glare. Her eyes radiated hatred at the Fire Nation soldier standing in front of her. Sho's eyes were full of fear as he looked at his best friend. She knew it was fear for her safety, however she ignored it. She wanted to protect him this time. "Rin, go away! You need to get out of here! Save yourself, they have no merc- AH!"

The soldier had turned back to Sho and grabbed his wrists, lifting him from the ground. Flames surrounded his hands and Sho screamed as the skin began to blister and deform. The soldier seethed, "Did I tell you to open your fucking mouth, kid? You'd better shut the hell up, or I'll fuck up your little friend here worse than I did her mom. At least I only killed that Water tribe whore, slit her throat and burned the house. I'll take my time with this one." He hissed at the nine year old boy. Rin saw something lock in Sho's expression and the fire behind his eyes dimmed to a low burn. He was angry, he was mad, but he was subdued. He wouldn't let his anger bring her any harm. The soldier stood there with a smirk on his face and Rin took this opportunity to slip her tiny dagger from the sheath in the back of her wrappings. She rushed forward almost as fast as she had ran earlier and sliced at the arm closest to her, catching the soldier off guard and causing him to drop Sho on the ground.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing, little lady?" The soldier barked as he towered over to her. He willed the flames to retract and crouched down to her level. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sho quietly slipping in his home's back door and she felt her heart swell. He had gotten away, he was going to be safe, and that's all that mattered to her. Rin stood strong and stared the man who had killed her mother dead in his eyes. His deep, piercing green eyes… Something clicked inside her as she stared into them.

The man smirked at her as he knew she saw it. "And to think I went so far out of my way to find you and come collect you. Your mother got you for what was it, eight years? It's my turn." The smirk on his face stretched wider as the words left his mouth. Without warning and seemingly out of nowhere, he let out a harsh breath and slumped down. Rin cast her gaze down to see an arrow protruding from the back of the man's neck. Looking back up, she knew what she was going to see. Sho stood all of ten feet away with his father's bow held in a sure grip.

"Sho…" she murmured, sinking to her knees. Without a thought she yanked the arrow out of her father's neck and silently marveled at the sight of the blood that came gushing out. Her blood, she thought, this man was her flesh and blood. She had faced her father and had all her fears of him dispelled. She hardly registered the wiry arm wrapping around her and lifting her up. Sho led her away from her father's corpse, away from where his own parents lay dead. She looked up at him and took in how much older he looked. 'Killing a man would do that to anyone' she thought solemnly.

They didn't stop walking until they reached the edge of the trees. He looked at her and she understood. She knew she always would. "You're right, we can't stay here. We killed their soldier, they're going to come back for us. If we stayed, we'd put everyone else in danger." She gripped his hand within her smaller one, noting that in all of an hour their life had changed so drastically. They were orphans now, and would be wanted by the Fire Nation when they found their man dead. Orphans...

Rin felt Sho tighten his grip on her hand. She turned to look at him and waited. Finally he spoke in no more than a whisper, "Am I a bad person?" Rin furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?" His cheeks burned red and she watched him use his free hand to wipe a stray tear from his face. "It didn't bother me. Shooting him. It made me feel good." Rin shook her head and didn't say a word. She had felt the same rush of happiness when she had pulled that arrow out of his neck. She pulled her best friend in for a hug and whispered in his ear. "If you're a bad person then I am too."

They ended their embrace and no more words were spoken after that. Rin looked at Sho one last time before leading him into the trees, sealing their fate for years to come.


	2. Chapter 1 - Pipsqueak

The sound of laughter and cheers roused the now twelve year old girl from the light slumber she had fallen into only a few hours prior. Her watchout shift had fallen during the witching hour, sadly; starting too early to sleep beforehand, ending too late to get a substantial amount of sleep before the hunting party got back at the crack of dawn. She wiped the sleep from her green eyes and tried to forget the nightmare that she'd endured during the sleep she did get, though she knew she'd never honestly forget it. After all, it wasn't just a nightmare. It was a memory of her past.

She was careful not to disturb her friends as she slipped from beneath an itchy, mosquito-moth eaten quilt. Her feet were gracefully silent as she glided across the wooden planks towards the basin in the corner of the room. She snatched her clothes off of the makeshift shelf (courtesy of Sneers) she had to put her 'girly shit on' (also courtesy of Sneers). Pulling her tight brown trousers on, she cringed. She'd grown again, and what used to be full length pants on her now rose a few inches above her ankles. Now going to put her shirt on, she sighed in defeat. She was twelve and, as twelve year olds tend to do, she had grown there as well. Her small but noticeable chest pressed against the blue fabric in the most uncomfortable of ways. She chose to ignore this detail and pulled her vest on. It was intended to be roomy and she smiled at the modest coverage it allowed. She'd have to make a trip into town soon, but for now this would do.

Before she left the room she looked back at her friends who lay peacefully in their own beds. Skillet was sprawled in a most attractive way with her hair sticking in eighty different directions. The eleven year old had an air of innocence about her that made Rin smile unconsciously. The other person in the room, Granyt, was another story entirely. She was twelve years old and their newest recruit, laying with her back pressed flush against the wall with a frown on her face. Rin remembered those days. When the pain of loss was still so fresh and raw, and all you knew was anger and suspicion. She remembered not trusting anyone, not one person except Sho. She could only hope that Granyt pulled through it as quickly as she had.

The wind outside of their room was crisp and clear; a omen of good things to come, she thought to herself. She padded over to edge of their landing and sat down with her feet dangling towards the ground below. She could see them coming down the path from where she sat and smiled. Their family was small, the hunting party only consisted of four people… Rin's brow furrowed in confusion. Four? She knew she must have counted wrong. There were only three boys in their family; Jet, Sneers and Shot. (Even after four years, she'd never quite gotten used to the nickname Jet had given him. She figured that Shot was a happy medium). She knew that Skillet and Granyt were in their beds, did that mean…? A splitting grin spread across Rin's face as she lunged off of the landing and into the branches below.

* * *

Rin had never been graceful before this family. She remembered being seven and tripping over her feet during her mother's mandatory dance lessons, or being nine when it was just the three of them and falling on her ass more times than she could count while learning combat. She was almost a completely different person now, one who could jump out of trees and land on her feet, one who could take on men three times her size. Her train of thought was derailed as she finally landed on the forest floor in front of the group. Jet was carrying a hog-monkey over his shoulder with a huge grin on his face. A piece of wheat hung from his lips and Rin rolled her eyes at the sight. Shot stood a foot or so behind him, his bow slung over his shoulder while he carried a rabbit-fox by it's ears. She smiled at the sight of her best friend, and that's when she saw him.

Sneers was walking a good five feet behind the two with his arms wrapped around a figure next to him. The ten year old seemed to be talking to the stranger in a low voice as they made their way along. Rin wanted to be excited at the new recruit to their family but she knew it was wrong. Jet brought him here and that could only mean one thing. His family was gone, and the Fire Nation had done it. She figured she'd act nonchalant about the whole thing to diffuse the tension she felt. "How was your trip?" She smiled as she walked to stand in front of her friends. Shot smiled back at her and spoke. ' _It was great, aside from the . Jet doesn't know when to shut up... '_ He pulled his lower lip between his teeth and paused to collect his thoughts. ' _Speaking of that, I need to talk to you about something.'_ Rin frowned at the concern lacing his expression. Before he could do so, however, the ever annoying leader of their rag-tag team burst into the conversation.

"It was pretty damn great, Drizz! You should've been there to see me take on this Hog-Monkey singlehandedly. It was pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself." She frowned at the nickname, as she always had. Soon after joining the family, she'd grown into her apparent skill: Waterbending. Jet had called her 'Drizzle' ever since, as well as everybody else except Shot and Sneers. "That's nice, Jet. I'm sure it was great." She knew that she'd later find Shot cleaning his arrows, or Sneers with bruises from taking the beast down. Jet never did the work he took credit for.

Speaking of Sneers, the two had finally made their way to where they stood talking. Rin immediately busied herself with fussing over the bruised boy. Another thing Rin had learned in the past four years was that she was a worrier and a nurturer. She was a motherly figure, a hoverer, and she felt such a strong sorrow for the boy covered in scars and blood. "C'mon hun, I'll get you all fixed up. Jet, Shot, Sneers,?" she raised her eyebrows and glanced away. They got the message she conveyed and were on their way to clean the animals for tonight's dinner.

Rin led him to a stream a little ways away. He spent the entire time looking at the ground with tears flowing down his face. She talked to him as they walked; she spoke of their family, what they were about. As he listened his tears eventually came to a stop. They were at the water's edge now. She quickly set to washing the blood off of his limbs and and face. His physique made him seem to be older than them, but she knew from his face that he couldn't be any older than Jet was.

"What's your name hon?" She asked as she pulled bandages from the pockets of her vest; she carried an entire first aid kit within it for situations like these. She set to bandaging the wounds that littered his body. "Pe-shen…" She thought on that for a second. "Pipsqueak." She said with a note of authority in her voice. He looked up at her with confusion in his young, innocent eyes. "If you decide to join our family, which I hope you do, Jet is gonna give you some dumb nickname. I mean, he calls me Drizzle because I can waterbend. He calls our friend Skillet because she can cook well. He's not the most creative guy ever." He nodded in understanding. At this point she had almost finished wrapping his wounds. Pipsqueak spoke up. "I don't have a family anymore. I'd really like to stay with you guys. And Pipsqueak is a great name- ironic, but great too."

The two began walking back towards the hideout with Rin leading the way. "How do you know where you're going?" Pipsqueak asked with a slight edge to his voice. "We aren't going to get lost, are we?" Rin laughed out loud at that. "You don't have to worry about me getting you lost. I've lived in these woods for years…" She was startled to realize that she had indeed lived here for years. Time seemed like an illusion when you lived amongst the trees, and the only sign of aging were the physical changes they experienced. If Pipsqueak found her sudden silence odd, he thankfully didn't say anything about it.

Rin led him to the place where the entrance was. He looked around for a moment before he noticed Rin grabbing a rope. "Just grab one and hold on tight." She advised him. He did what she said and Rin whistled a strange tune. A half of a second later, they shot off the ground and up into the trees. They landed on the deck and, to Pipsqueak's surprise, a moderately sized group of people stood in front of him. Rin remembered this from when Sneers, Skillet and Granyt came to their family, how Jet rounded everyone up to welcome them in. These children were scared enough as it is; he didn't want their new recruits to have any reason not to trust him.

Rin swaggered over to Jet and smiled. "I already named him, Jet. Ya snooze, ya lose." She then took her spot between Shot and Sneers in the line up. It wasn't like they had assigned spots or anything, it was just where she felt comfortable at. She could see Shot glancing at her from the corner of his eye but she ignored it. She knew that she would have a chance to talk to him about whatever was bothering him later. Right now, it was time to welcome Pipsqueak into their complicated little family.

Immediately after introductions and greetings were over, Jet decided it was time to do some training. He claimed that he wanted to 'get an early start on this one', before he had a chance to enter a depressive stage like Granyt did. The group of kids made their way to the forest floor and set off towards a clearing most of them knew all too well.

* * *

Rin spent the afternoon sparring with Sneers, running races with Skillet, and she even spent a good half hour sitting with Granyt and talking to her. The girl seemed to be fairing better than she had that morning, something Rin was grateful for. She revealed to Rin that she had the ability to earthbend, however she had no actual knowledge of how to do it. The only bending she'd ever accomplished was done in a fit of anger when her village was attacked, and she'd only managed to dislodge a few rocks from a cliffside. Rin made sure to express to her how beautiful of a talent bending was, even if she didn't have the ability to control it yet. She thanked the Spirits everyday for bestowing her with what will eventually be her greatest weapon.

As the day dragged on Rin realized that everyone had been paired up to spar at least once, meaning that the session would be drawing to an end soon. The past thirty minutes had mostly been the boys showing Pipsqueak some specialized moves to help him out of sticky situations. She had taken a part in a spar or two while they did this but was growing tired. Her train of thought was derailed by Skillet knocking her flat on her ass. The younger girl guffawed at the sight of her confused roommate sitting in a pile of leaves. "What the hell Skillet?" The aforementioned girl smiled brightly. "Rule number one when sparring me: _don't_ get distracted. I don't fight fair." She turned on her heel and sauntered over to watch Sneers and Pipsqueak duking it out. Rin picked herself up and spotted Shot sitting off to the side with his bow, restringing it. She slipped past Skillet where she stood watching the fight, missing the knowing look the girl threw at her back. Rin plopped down on the ground watched the fight as she spoke.

"You know, I think he's going to fit in well here. Look at that- he's already taking on Sneers blow for blow. He's a bit too nice, but that's something we could use around here. What do you think?" She glanced at her friend and knew he agreed with her. Their family was shaping up nicely- what could go wrong?

* * *

They ate like kings that night, as per usual after the boys got back from a hunting trip. There weren't too many people in their family, which made it easy to build up a lasting supply of food. The designated storage room was stocked with non perishable food and the only things they had to collect were meat and clean water. They never really went hungry, and most of them were eating better here than they ever had in their true homes. They never spoke the words, but they knew that none of them would trade what they had found here, if it were even possible.

After dinner everybody trickled back to their rooms; the girls to prepare for bed, while the boys planned on making sure Pipsqueak felt at home with the people he'd be sharing a room with. As Rin stripped off her clothes and shoved them back onto the shelf above the basin, she couldn't help but think that things were too good to be true. She was still stuck on what she'd thought about earlier on the way back from the stream. They had lived for four years in these woods with seemingly no problems, meanwhile a war raged on outside of the safety of the treetops. She wrapped her arms around her now bare stomach and tried to force herself to think about something that didn't leave her feeling ill. They would be alright, they had to be. Jet would take care of them like he always did.


End file.
